{"slug": "warren-buffett-says-youre-giving-up-your-potential-if-you-dont-have-this-one-and", "title": "Warren Buffett says ‘you’re giving up your potential’ if you don’t have this one skill—and it has nothing to do with the stock market", "summary": "Warren Buffett said strong communication skills are essential for success, warning that those who cannot effectively convey their ideas are \"giving up your potential.\" The legendary investor, who overcame his own fear of public speaking by taking a Dale Carnegie course at age 20, emphasized that schools often under-prioritize this ability. With AI reshaping the workforce, major tech companies are now offering million-dollar pay packages for top communications talent, and surveys show verbal and written communication skills are the top attribute employers seek on recent graduates' resumes.", "body_md": "Particularly with the advent of AI, strong communication skills have become even more critical to success in business. Even some of the biggest tech- and AI-focused companies in the world are shelling out [million-dollar pay packages](https://fortune.com/article/big-tech-million-dollar-communications-jobs-ai-anthropic-openai-netflix/) for people who can lead communications efforts at a high level.\n\nAnd it’s a key skill Warren Buffett, one of the most legendary investors in history, firmly believes in.\n\n“You’ve got to be able to communicate in life, and it’s enormously important,” the [Oracle](https://fortune.com/company/oracle/) of Omaha said during a 2013 interview with Levo League, a career website for young women. “Schools, to some extent, under-emphasize that.”\n\nEarly in his career, at age 20, Buffett set out to conquer his fear of public speaking by enrolling in a Dale Carnegie course, which [still exists today](https://www.dalecarnegie.com/en/courses/384). Before the public speaking course, Buffett said he and the other students in the class were “terrified of getting up and saying our names.”\n\nBut over the course of his 60-year career at the helm of [Berkshire Hathaway](https://fortune.com/company/berkshire-hathaway/), Buffett became a prolific communicator and public speaker. In fact, his voice became one of the loudest in the finance world and had the power to move markets.\n\n“If you can’t communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you’re giving up your potential,” Buffett emphasized.\n\nBuffett’s advice still holds up today. An [April survey](https://www.naceweb.org/talent-acquisition/candidate-selection/the-key-skills-employers-seek-on-college-students-resumes) by the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows verbal and written communication skills are at the top of the wishlist for what employers want to see on recent college graduates’ resumes.\n\nReflecting on his career ahead of his retirement at the end of 2025, Buffett suggested in his [final shareholder letter](https://fortune.com/2025/11/10/read-full-warren-buffett-retirement-letter-berkshire-hathaway-shareholders/) as CEO learning is a lifelong journey.\n\n“It is never too late to improve,” he wrote. “Get the right heroes and copy them.”\n\n## What other executives say about the importance of communication skills\n\nJeff Bezos is another major proponent of strong communication skills. When he was [named Businessperson of the Year by Fortune](https://fortune.com/2012/11/16/amazons-jeff-bezos-the-ultimate-disrupter/) in 2012, he highlighted how important communication skills are to\n\n[Amazon’s now-famous six-page memo culture](https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-engineer-6-page-memos-reading-culture-jeff-bezos-2025-7). During meetings, they read through these memos together.\n\n“For new employees, it’s a strange initial experience,” he told *Fortune*. “They’re just not accustomed to sitting silently in a room and doing study hall with a bunch of executives.”\n\nBut the art of crafting a memo is even more challenging to master.\n\n“Full sentences are harder to write,” he added. “They have verbs. The paragraphs have topic sentences. There is no way to write a six-page, narratively structured memo and not have clear thinking.”\n\nAnd as Gen Z enters a workforce dominated by AI, Jamie Dimon, CEO of [JPMorgan Chase](https://fortune.com/company/jpmorgan-chase/), said it will take more than only mastering technical skills to be successful in today’s job market.\n\n“My advice to people would be critical thinking, learn skills, learn your EQ [emotional quotient], learn how to be good in a meeting, [how to communicate](https://fortune.com/2025/12/14/jamie-dimon-soft-skills-emotional-intelligence-communication-ai-eliminates-roles/?queryly=related_article), how to write,” Dimon told * Fox News *in December 2025\n\n*.*“You’ll have plenty of jobs.”\n\n**The Fortune 500 Innovation Forum** will convene Fortune 500 executives, U.S. policy officials, top founders, and thought leaders to help define what’s next for the American economy,\n\n**Nov. 16-17 in Detroit.**", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/warren-buffett-says-youre-giving-up-your-potential-if-you-dont-have-this-one-and", "canonical_source": "https://fortune.com/2026/05/28/what-does-warren-buffett-say-is-most-important-skill-to-have-communication-public-speaking/", "published_at": "2026-05-28 15:16:19+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-28 16:29:57.807355+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-tools"], "entities": ["Warren Buffett", "Berkshire Hathaway", "Dale Carnegie", "Levo League", "Oracle"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/warren-buffett-says-youre-giving-up-your-potential-if-you-dont-have-this-one-and", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/warren-buffett-says-youre-giving-up-your-potential-if-you-dont-have-this-one-and.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/warren-buffett-says-youre-giving-up-your-potential-if-you-dont-have-this-one-and.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/warren-buffett-says-youre-giving-up-your-potential-if-you-dont-have-this-one-and.jsonld"}}